Developing Professionals Beyond the Boundaries of Education and Welfare

Expectations for School Social Workers

Abstract

ABSTRACT 　　 In 2008, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s “School Social Worker Utilization Project” was launched. 　　 At the beginning of the project, the “necessity of social work” in schools was often emphasized to protect the rights of minority children and to “connect” schools with families, communities, and related organizations. 　　 In recent years, it has overlapped with the discussion of work style reform for teachers, and it has also been discussed in connection with the theory of reducing the burden on teachers. Schools and boards of education who use the system are considered experts in “countermeasures” (outreach, home visits, and so on) for family rearing difficulties, such as truancy, child abuse, and poverty；they tend to be external personnel who are responsible for case meetings between schools and external organizations. 　　 However, many school social workers have sought to be professionals who bridge school education and social welfare in solving problems in the lives of children and families and play a role in guaranteeing the children’s best interests by bridging education and welfare and acting as representatives. 　　 Overcoming these gaps will require questioning the boundaries between education and welfare between professionals who work together in schools. Education and welfare have boundaries in many aspects. However, these boundaries have been created by both educators and welfare workers. 　　 The fact of mutual dialogue and practice has created a step to dispel even the slightest sense of boundaries and separation. 　　 I would thus like to describe the current situation of school social workers in recent years, their position in the era of “team schools,” and their qualities and abilities unbound by the boundaries between education and welfare.